Charlie did good at school, as his teacher emailed me and Jim noted. He took the bus home and then wanted my dad to sit in the front seat of the black car. It was another instance of Charlie having some idea, some image, in mind about how things should be when my dad and … Continue reading →

Thank you to everyone for your good wishes about finding Charlie’s purple beads. Alas, the beads have yet to be found. As a result of which, Charlie and I didn’t set off for the Big Autism Center till 8.44am. School starts at 8.45am so we were a bit late. Charlie had gotten up, showered, and … Continue reading →

It was towards the end of my Intermediate Latin class in the early afternoon on Friday and, with 15 minutes to go, I was going over the comparative and superlative of adjectives and adverbs—how one says 'longer/more long' and 'longest/most long' in Latin (longior, longius and longissimus, longissima, longissimum, if you'd like a little Latin … Continue reading →

Not that you needed to know this, but this working the transition business can be taxing in all domains. Mentally. Emotionally. Physically. In previous years, the transition back to school after the longer summer vacation has often been a time of 'outbursts,' 'explosions,' 'incidents' in our household. The last week preceding the return to school … Continue reading →

Charlie will be back in school next Tuesday and Thursday he and I started working the transition in full force. I made a Back to School social story using Stories2Learn on Charlie’s iPad—my very nice aunts read this SFWeekly article about how the iPad has helped my friend Shannon‘s son Leo so much and decided … Continue reading →

It was a 28 mile kind of day. 18 of those miles were done at a magnificent motoring-it-up pace on the Jersey horse country trail that I think has become Jim's and Charlie's favorite. And under a blazing hot sun. And after Charlie ran out of a gas station convenience store as it didn't have … Continue reading →

We were on our way to Jersey horse country for a bike ride yesterday morning and ended up taking a slightly different route. We knew where we were, but not exactly how to get to the road that leads to the town where the bike path is. Jim said, ‘Let’s look at the map’ and … Continue reading →

The ocean was just as Charlie loves it yesterday: Active. The waves were rough with lots of foam, and big and trough-y, so you could see the water pulling up into a peak and then crashing down, but the crash came slowly and full of froth. Not the sort of water for babes-in-arms and excited … Continue reading →

Charlie got home from his last day of Extended School Year in a cheery mood. While Jim said thanks to the bus driver and aide and wished them a good vacation, Charlie went to the white car, opened the door to the back seat, and took out his things, his worry beads and tschotskes, little … Continue reading →

Thanks to Jill, Antonio DA, Barbara, and Melanie for your comments on Monday's post, Stick With It, in regard to the curious pattern in Charlie's learning: 'An initial big effort with a concerted output of energy, followed shortly by a request to be done with it, and now, and stated adamantly.' Jill wrote referred to this pattern … Continue reading →